I want to say something about Mad Honey
I've just finished the book and I really want to talk about it but I don't know anyone else who's read it lol
If you're currently reading it and don't want any spoilers, then please be warned that this entire post is a spoiler.
I want to preface this by saying that I have no problem with “wokeness” (as the bitter 1 star reviews on Goodreads say) in novels and am queer myself so it’s not the topic itself that I have a problem with. I think it’s important to have trans characters in books and movies, but I feel like Mad Honey approaches it poorly. The trans character in this book starts out dead, and even though we do get her POV throughout the book (in a strange, disjointed manner to add to the mix), it's the fact that her trans identity gets thrown at us out of nowhere in the middle of the book in the most soap opera way imaginable- on the witness stand at a murder trial. Honestly, something about one of the main characters being revealed as trans in what appears to be a "twist" sat wrong with me for the rest of the novel.
It doesn't help that we've been reading her POV up until this point and this major part of her identity- and the rest of the book- is not touched on at all until the reveal. And with her being dead it just feels almost reminiscent of the "dead hooker" trope, which I also can't stand. There's also the aspect of her being the ~perfect~ trans girl; completely undetectable, right down to her genitals which for some reason it is mentioned several times throughout the book that her gender affirmation surgeon tells her that "not even her doctors would be able to tell". I'm not saying it's impossible for trans individuals to pass completely with their new gender, it's just that it's something consistently mentioned in the book that makes it feel like the authors considered this an important factor.
I’ll give Picoult and Boyland the benefit of the doubt and assume they were trying to educate people about the trans perspective and life, and there were genuinely some moments of this being beautifully and soulfully done in Lily’s narration, but overall it felt alienating. In my opinion, to normalize the POV of people who represent a misunderstood and marginalized minority is to have these characters be just that- people. Not the dead girl whose boyfriend is on trial the entire book, or the perfectly beautiful doctor who also specializes in groundbreaking surgery, or the token “does not really look like a woman” trans woman of the town who takes the time to educate Olivia about what it means to be trans. Do these people exist in real life? Of course. Do they all need to be collapsed together in one book? I don’t think so. It just didn't feel aligned with the plot at all, and I feel like if this had just been a book about Lily trying to live her life with another plot it would have been a much better book. However, as I've mentioned before, I'm not trans, so please tell me if I am overthinking this.
I also wanted to touch on the DV aspect. This also could have been a really powerful and educational message on the subject of domestic violence and abusive tendencies, but it felt like the issue petered out in the end. Asher's obvious violent streak and propensity for lashing out is glossed over completely by the end, and we never really get an ending on Olivia's ex husband. Maybe the message was that sometimes life just means you do your best to move on from an abusive past, but it felt like it was mentioned so frequently throughout the book that being left without a resolution felt off.
I didn’t DNF it but I didn’t enjoy it much after the first half, and it definitely felt a lot longer than it maybe should have been. And the second ~twist~ at the end was one that I had suspected but was also frustrated that nothing came of it. All of that pain and misery and nothing happens to Maya even if it was an accident?
Overall, there were definitely some beautiful moments and I didn't ultimately hate the book, but it just mostly felt unresolved and like the authors had more ideas than they knew what to do with while writing it. Would love to hear anyone else's thoughts on this, and please tell me if I am wrong in any way.
by lamlosa
9 Comments
I just finished reading the book! I felt the same way. To me it felt like there was a random afterschool special about trans acceptance shoehorned into the middle in a way that didn’t really fit the rest of the story? I really liked Lily, and I thought her romance with Asher was beautifully done. I also think her being trans was handled well in her own storyline, but I just couldn’t buy that Liv, in the middle of her son being on trial for his life, was like oh let me go spend a chapter educating myself on what life is like for trans women. I mean good for her I guess but I’d be like this seems like something that could wait given that my son’s gf is dead and he maybe killed her? I’d be spending more time trying to track Lily’s dad and see if he had an alibi for her death.
I also reaaaaaally hated the >! Maya twist. To me it came out of nowhere and also??? So evil of Maya to not only accidentally kill her friend because she was jealous / trying to take her phone, but then to let Asher take the fall and go on stand against him??? The LEAST she could do if she was in love with him was say I don’t think he’d hurt her on stand, especially if she’s so in love with him. !<
Overall I enjoyed it but skimmed a lot of the later chapters.
I definitely disliked the way it was treated as a “twist” especially with us already having so much of Lily’s POV. It felt cheap, like information was being concealed just for shock value. (And I anticipated it anyway, knowing who the co-writer was; but even anticipating it didn’t feel like Lily’s POV felt “natural” in the way it avoided mentioning it outright.)
I kept thinking the backward narrative of Lily’s story would reveal something. I thought it was purposeful. So frustrating.
Okay, so to preface this rant a little bit, Mad Honey is my favorite book of all time. Just to be clear I will be EXTREMELY biased in favor of it.
But yeah, the reveal didn’t sit totally right with me. As a twist in a murder mystery novel, I think it’s flawless. I thought it was set up super well from the beginning and it elevates the stakes so much for the rest of the novel.
But it also somewhat trivializes her identity in the process, it’s uncomfortable to see someone’s identity (at that point in the story) relegated to being a twist in someone else’s drama. But I think it later pays off as Lily gets her time in the spotlight and we really get into the details of how it’s been a part of her life.
I am not trans, so I cannot speak on how it accurately represents someone’s real life, but as a murder mystery lover, it manages a perfect balance of being a surprise and yet totally makes sense when you connect the dots after the reveal.
Picoult has an issue with just cramming too much into her books. I liked her early books and just can’t with her anymore. I read this for a book club and was enjoying the first half and then too much stuff happened that I agree she didn’t deal with well at all. Very preachy.
Ugh I hated this book. It was my first Jodi Piccoult book and everyone said I would love her. I cannot bring myself to pick up another book of hers after this.
This book was hard for me to finish. Some chapters, I couldn’t put it down and then others I was forcing myself to read. It had so much potential but the end had me frustrated. I feel it was the editing that let this book down.
Interesting! I liked the fact that they did not reveal her identity earlier. Mainly because I think it will make the readers stop and think about how they’ll visualise her differently now that they know her identity. And this will make people confront their biases.
I felt exactly the same about this book in all of the ways you mention.